‘Rising Star’ Adds Kesha + Ludacris to Judges Panel
The newest singing competition TV show, ‘Rising Star,’ has signed on some big names for its team, with Kesha and Ludacris now joining the ranks of the previously gathered Brad Paisley and Josh Groban, according to Deadline.
The live talent show will premiere on June 22, but don’t schedule your DVR just yet. This is a TV hour you’ll want to catch live.
The program is unique in that audiences will participate real-time via a ‘Rising Star’ app. Contestants will perform to a floor-to-ceiling LED screen flashing live images of voters at home voting. The singer will be able to watch the movement of his or her score during the actual performance. Talk about nerve-wracking!
If the contestant reaches a certain voting score (though the minimum has yet to be disclosed), the LED screen is removed to reveal the judges — or panel of experts, as they’ll be called — Kesha, Ludacris and Brad. It’s a well-versed and diverse lineup, fitting of the name "experts."
‘Rising Star’ has a lot of its own competition to face in ‘Sing-Off,’ ‘The Voice’ and ‘American Idol,’ but the new show sounds refreshingly different from the others. It probably helps that its executive producers, Ken Warwick and Nicolle Yaron, come from the ‘American Idol’ and ‘The Voice’ teams, respectively. They’ve got a lot of experience on what does and doesn’t work in this field.
Josh Groban will head 'Rising Star' as host, and with his dry, sharp sense of humor, this is building up to be a show that just can't be missed.